Reading OE Archived Mail

[Bob]

From all the posts on this board, it appears that the designers of Windows
Mail either did not know or did not care how people use it in the real
world. There are lots of suggestions here for patches, work arounds, third
party software, installing both XP and Vista just to be able to use OE, etc.
Most of these suggestions are far too technical or expensive for the average
user. There is obviously a lot of dissatisfaction with the way MS built
this new mail system. If I accept the inevitable and move to Windows Mail,
I will need to archive all the OE folders I have created to store messages
and begin anew to create new folders in WM for future messages. But if I do
archive my OE messages, how will I be able to retrieve and read it? MS
apparently didn't think this would be an issue.

 

[Steve Cochran]

You can backup your OE messages as per here www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx and
that page also contains information for importing them into Windows Mail.

To avoid having to get a 3rd party program (such as one of mine. <G>), make
sure you backup the entire OE message store directory and include
folders.dbx with it. In addition, if you burn the files onto CD, make sure
you verify the written data, so you don't wind up with corrupt files on the
CD when you go to import the data. I have had several users who this
happened to.

steve

 

[Bob]

Thanks, this is helpful (and I might even buy your software!), but I'm a bit
nervous (and not sure how) about importing and exporting registry keys.
Does your software do that automatically? My main concern at the moment is
running OE and XP on my primary desktop and running WM and Vista on my new
laptop. Previously, when I went out of town for two or three weeks, I would
simply copy all my OE files from my desktop to my laptop and then reverse
the process when I got home. Now that seems to be quite a pain (if
possible). Perhaps the best solution is to leave the mail on the server,
though I have two OE identities and that complicates it more. Similarly, if
I simply back up my OE files to a CD and then subsequently switch to Vista
on my desktop, I might have problems reading those old OE files. Perhaps
your OEX program can do all this?

 

[Steve Cochran]

I don't have it programmed yet to import from a saved registry key to
WInMail. If you want to import settings now, I think you have to use the
File and Settings Transfer Wizard.

I typically leave the messages on the POP3 server and redundantly download
them with my home desktop set to delete from the server after several days.
Then I can synchronize my sent items between my laptop and desktop by
importing them across the network using OEX. What I want to add to OEX when
I get a chance is to go back in and after importing the sent items from
Notebook to Desktop for instance, go back and mark the inbox messages on the
Desktop as having been replied to (from the Notebook). So that info would
be synchronized as well.

steve

 

[Guest]

Check the link below. You should be able to import either from Outlook or
Outlook Express.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/26079ffc-a56f-46aa-b1e8-fcfc9f60be4b1033.mspx

 

[Steve Cochran]

That link is wrong in some respects such as

"Windows Mail can import messages from a variety of popular e‑mail programs,
such as Eudora and Netscape Communicator,"

steve